Cold Cases in Wapello County, Iowa

*Please Note: The cases listed below are within Wapello County but may fall under a city police department’s jurisdiction. They are included here for cross-reference purposes. More specific information may be found on each victim’s individual page.

On Thursday, May 25, 1893, James Chamberlain, a carpenter who lived on Ottumwa’s south side, was struck by a blow to the head and found lying in mud and water beneath the Wabash Railroad trestle in the city’s old Richmond section. He died four days later on May 29.

Robert Ruby, a 54-year-old Blakesburg miner, fell 87 feet to his death on Saturday, January 11, 1936, down the shaft of the Bidwell Fuel Co. mine on the Henry Oswalt farm, one mile south of Christiansburg.

John Franklin, Sr., 35, a central Iowa factory worker, and his 22-year-old wife Michelle were shot to death in their Eddyville, Iowa, home on Tuesday, January 3, 1978, in what officials called a double homicide. Michelle’s mother, Willa Mae Brower, discovered the bodies the following morning.

In the early morning hours on Wednesday, July 12, 1978, Francis Jordon was killed after two men knocked on his door saying they had car trouble and needed help. Jordon’s son later found his father’s body thrown over the bank beside the Des Moines River out across Cliffland Park. The 42-year-old Jordon had been brutally beaten to death.

Dennison Stookesberry was reported missing to the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office in Ottumwa on February 15, 1999, after last being seen on Feb. 8. He left behind his four dogs, medication to treat his diabetes and heart problems, and his dinner still in the microwave oven. Authorities believe Stookesberry is deceased, and foul play is suspected in his disappearance.

5 Responses to Wapello County

I may have information about a homicide. I do not know the date. Elaine (Daisy) Hauser-Griffiths was doing community service through the courts where I was office manager. She told me of a murder that she witnessed. I did go to the Ottumwa Police Dept and told an officer who took down a report. Later a "private detective" called me. The police had released the report to him. He was investigating a missing person that he thought was murdered. "Daisy" told me that Clifford Collett had murdered the man over a drug deal of some sort. The detective wanted more information than what I knew such as the color of the car…she was too frighten of Clifford Collett to tell me any more details than she had already told me. The detective told me that he thinks the man killed may be related to a couple from Albia that their son was missing. She told me that his body was put in a car at the Rock Quarry west of Chillicothe, Iowa. I guess there is some type of deep water that the car with the body is in. She is now deceased.

Kim, once I received the IDPS press releases, I did go ahead and add the case to the website because it’s a way of tracking the number of cold cases that are getting solved, and also so people will have a page where they can provide any further input. When arrests are made, officials do announce a case is closed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the suspect(s) will be found guilty at trial.

Some years back I figured it would be a great disservice to our readers here if we automatically “removed” all info about a case from the website once it got solved. (There are plenty of readers and researchers interested in just “how” these cases came to be solved, what methods were used to solve them, etc.) I’ve noted on the person’s page when the case has been solved, and they also get listed on our Solved page. Here’s the page I put up for Nathan Messer and Seth Anderson: https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/nathan-messer-and-seth-anderson/

The fact that people (and there were a lot of people at that party) were ready to come forward and admit what they know is truly inspiring. Some stay silent for decades. I only wish more people out there would be willing to contact officials with what they know in other cases. Also, there is always safety in numbers! I think we should get legislators to draft a bill to designate one week (or better yet, a month) each year as Cold Case Awareness Month where people are strongly encouraged to come forward and provide information that could help solve more of these cases.

I’m just happy right now that Nathan and Seth’s families will finally learn the truth about what happened to them. I also loved what SAC Mike Motsinger had to say about the arrests: “It just goes to show when people think they get away with murder we are always there, always willing to look at things and hopefully everyone is looking over their shoulders because we do take things seriously and take homicides seriously — and find them,” Motsinger said during the press conference the day following the arrests.

These killers need to fear every knock at the door. Again, there is safety in numbers and they can’t silence ALL those who know what really happened. Wouldn’t a “Cold Case Camp Courageous” month be wonderful!

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